This invention relates to optical fiber terminations. In particular it relates to terminations which produce essentially no light reflection into the fiber core, thus avoiding the optical return loss (ORL), and which are sufficiently short to be included within the packaging of the fiber optic device in which the termination is made.
Many fiber optic devices include optical fibers that are not used. One such device is a 2xc3x972 coupler in which light emanating from two ports is coupled and exits via one port. It is desirable in such cases to provide the end of the unused fiber with a termination which will minimize or even eliminate reflection of light back into the fiber core and thereby avoid the ORL that is produced by such reflection and which may disturb the operation of the laser.
It is known that reflections can be essentially eliminated if the fiber end is cleaved at an angle such that light is reflected into the cladding of the fiber and none of the light goes back into the core of the fiber. However, the surface of such cleavage must be extremely well polished to achieve a satisfactory performance. The presence of even the slightest discontinuity, such as specks of dust, will severely disturb the proper reflection of the light and will usually lead to some of the light being reflected into the core, thus producing an optical return loss (ORL). This requirement of very high polish of the angular end face is a significant disadvantage as has, for instance, been recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,103. To obviate this disadvantage, U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,103 provides for an attachment to the end of the fiber of a terminator that has a substantially constant refractive index, such as a core-less silica fiber. It is, however, indicated in this patent that the length of such terminator must be 3 cm or more in order to achieve a back reflection of approximately xe2x88x9270 dB. Such a length normally puts the termination outside of the package of the device, which in itself is a disadvantage, since it requires some kind of external protection for the termination or an extension of the package for the device.
There is, therefore, a need for a termination that would be short enough to be included within the package of the fiber optic device, which is herein called an internal termination for optical fibers.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an internal (short) termination for an optical fiber having a core and a cladding.
Another object is to provide a simple and effective termination which essentially eliminates the ORL.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description thereof.
In essence, the present invention comprises a termination for an optical fiber having a core and a cladding and being a part of an optical device mounted in a package, which termination comprises a short length of an attenuating fiber with a doped core connected to the end of the optical fiber which is being terminated, the attenuation produced by the doped core and the length of the attenuating fiber being selected so as to fit within the package of the device, while essentially eliminating light reflection into the optical fiber.
The length of the attenuating fiber should normally not exceed 1 cm and it can be connected to the end of the optical fiber by fusion splicing or a similar technique.
To achieve an essentially reflectionless termination (e.g. having xe2x88x9260 dB or less of back reflection or ORL), the core of the attenuating fiber should preferably have an attenuation of at least 20 dB/cm The attenuating fiber should be of such quality and composition as to avoid defects and/or compositional elements that can diffuse light back into the core of the optical fiber. This can be achieved with attenuating fibers available on the market which are doped with transition metals such as cobalt, nickel and copper. Such fibers are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,874 where they are used as an optical attenuator. There is, however, no hint in this patent that a short length of such attenuating fiber could provide an internal termination for an optical fiber of a fiber optic device, as has been found by the present applicants.
The doped core of the attenuating fiber normally has the same diameter as the core of the optical fiber to be terminated. However, the diameters need not be precisely identical, so long as light coming out of the optical fiber to be terminated flows into the doped core of the attenuating fiber and is absorbed therein. Moreover, the modes between the cores of the optical fiber to be terminated and the attenuating fiber connected thereto should be substantially matched so as to minimize or eliminate any back refection at the connection.
Part of the light absorption takes place when the light travels forward in the doped core of the attenuating fiber until it reaches the outer end of the fiber where some of the light will escape out of the attenuating fiber and some will be reflected back into the attenuating fiber where it will be re-absorbed by the doping in the fiber core. Thus, depending on the desired length of the termination, an attenuation of 20 dB/cm is sufficient to achieve an essentially reflectionless internal termination.
The outer end of the short length of the attenuating fiber need not be of any particular configuration or polish. However, it may be cleaved at an angle so that any light reflected back into the attenuating fiber will be reflected not only into the core but also into the cladding thereby increasing the attenuation. However, unlike in the prior art situations, such angular end need not be extremely smooth, because the doped core provides its own attenuation and there is thus no objection that some of the light be reflected back into the core of the attenuating fiber.